Chief steward denies Peter Moody 'spy' claim

Senior racing officials have scoffed at suggestions they placed a former barrier attendant into the stable of leading trainer Peter Moody to work as a covert operator for the integrity department.

Moody on Wednesday threatened to walk away from the industry after one of his staff members mistakenly put a "swell down" poultice on the leg of one of his horses - Lady Tatia - before it started at the Pakenham meeting.

In so doing, stewards said Moody had broken the race-day treatment rule.

This was the prelude for a war of words that broke out during the day, in which Moody alleged Victorian stewards had sought to place a mole in his stable to report back on his practices.

Stewards immediately decried the allegation, saying it was "nonsense".

Racing Victoria's chief steward Terry Bailey explained that in 2011 an acquaintance from his hometown of Rockhampton contacted him after he'd finished working as a barrier attendant in Melbourne.

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"He told me that he'd lost his job and felt that racing had gone by him. That's all he ever knew, so I said there might be a position, we'll wait and see.

"As he had been a horseman all his life, he knew what stable life was all about and we considered him as the sort of bloke who could go into a stable - not Moody's - but one that may have been causing us grave concerns", Bailey said.

Senior integrity officers met with integrity commissioner Sal Perna to discuss the possibility of using Bailey's acquaintance in this role.

"Sal came back to us with some pluses but the negatives outweighed them and that was it. Make it quite clear, that [we] never at any stage had a specific stable in mind. To say that we had Moody in mind is plainly and simply wrong. The arrangement or the idea was dumped, Perna gave us the thumbs down", Bailey said.

For his part, Moody expressed his exasperation at the treatment he has faced, lashing out at the administration of racing rules as lacking in common sense.

He was, however, up front about his mistake concerning Lady Tatia, after RV's compliance assurance team reported the breach before the mare was withdrawn from her race at Pakenham.

"It was my fault and my responsibility. Don't penalise the owners.

"It's something that should have been handled in a common-sense manner", Moody said.

Moody's stayer Lidari last year returned a positive test to cobalt and the champion trainer, who handled Black Caviar throughout her career, faces a career-ending penalty if found guilty.

Just three weeks ago, Moody imposed a media ban after he had been told by stewards that his comments on radio RSN were not appropriate for a leading trainer. Moody had said: "Get the splinters out of your arse, you're either with me or against me".

Wednesday's race-day treatment matter will now be heard by the racing and disciplinary appeals board at a date to be fixed.